I have a close friend who runs a small coffee stall on weekends serving 'single origin' coffee beans and very nice takeaway coffees. He also loves to experiment with things and has asked if he could use some of my brewing gear to try a batch of 'cold brewed' coffee, served with nitro gas from one of my corny kegs.

I know how many of us on here like to play around with food and drink, so wondered if anyone has tried cold brewing their coffe and serving it with nitrogen? If so, how did it go? There is a load of info on this 'guide' for anyone who is interested, it isnt a comprehensive guide, buty gives a good idea of the subject generally. https://www.kegoutlet.com/media/ebooks/ ... t_v2.1.pdf

Does anyone have a recommended supplier for nitrogen gas (ideally in very small quantities for the trial) and is it likely that my CO2 regulator will fit the nitrogen cylinder?

Joe1002 wrote:I've not tried it and not sure I would want to, I prefer my coffee hot and flat personally.

Co2 regs are different to nitrogen / nitrogen mix therefore I don't believe they are interchangeable..

Thanks for the info on the regulator. I had assumed that an adapter of some sorts may be required for the different gases, but it hadn't occurred to me that they may not be interchangeable due to the different gas pressures. Apparently my regulator is rated high enough so that it could be used with nitrogen pressures, but it would need a different nut and stem connector - so it is actually virtually the same cost just buy a new cheap regulator than buy the nut and stem (not sure how that can be right, buy hey ho).

I am quite interested to see how the cold smooth coffee thing tastes, albeit it is starting to look like an expensive experiment! Particularly if it doesn't work out well.

I tried some of this in Toronto recently. I found it a bit odd to be honest.

The lovely light floral elements from the cold pressed coffee were lost to the nitro. So it seemed to gain a bit - but lose a lot for my taste. It was also quite bitter, but that may have just been the coffee they had that day!

I've tried cold steeped coffee (I decided not to try the nitro option though it was offered). I thought it tasted like they'd just put less coffee in. It's probably the same fad that sees people thinking get less bitterness from dark grains if you cold steep them too, whereas people have proven you get the same taste if you just put less in.

Bad 'Ed wrote: It's probably the same fad that sees people thinking get less bitterness from dark grains if you cold steep them too, whereas people have proven you get the same taste if you just put less in.

That's interesting. Do you have a source?

The one beer I've had which I knew was brewed with cold steeped grains was fantastic. Lots of smooth Coffee and Chocolate flavour without being roasty or bitter. At least that was my impression.

As for cold brewed coffee tasting like they'd used less coffee. Well, they clearly didn't used enough coffee!

I was sure I'd read Aleman telling someone off for following a fad and that cold steeping was a made up term. Apparently not as he's suggesting it as a sensible thing to do. I must have made it up or believed a less reputable source without double checking...

We are all now set up and ready to go for the first batch, which if successful will be served at my friends coffee stall on Saturday, which is also some sort of local fete. If not successful, it will go down the drain!

I have yet to try one from any source, so an very keen to compare our brew with one from the local Starbucks to see how they stand against each other. Ours will be single origin ethiopian beans, so probably has the edge on 'coffee taste snobbery', but we dont know what we are doing yet. My friend tasted the first small trial batch (without nitro) and was NOT impressed, so this is looking a bit wobbly at the moment!

We may trial a 'fridge cold' steep vs 'room temp' steep too when we do another batch to see what difference it makes.

Force carbing (but with pure nitrogen) is the hard part to get right apparently, as Nitrogen is much harder to disolve in the liquid (when compared to CO2 which turns to carbomic acid in the coffee apparently).

The coffee is now in the Corny and we gased it to 40PSI with nitrogen and then gave it a good shake to try and get the gas into the coffee.

Photo of the first trial nitro-coffee below.

When poured it was still unchilled and had only had 10 minutes with the gas, but it still creamed/settled like an advert from Guiness and transformed the taste completely. I think the stout-tap helped.

It has now had 40PSI for 48hrs at 5C, with a couple of good shakes per day, so hopefully should be ready to go for Saturday's trial at the local event.

As cold coffee (ie without the nitro added), it wasnt to my taste to be honest, but I am sure there are others who will love it. I think ungased it should be served as 'cold coffee' over ice, and ours was probably about 20C, so I haven't really given that method a fair tasting as yet.

With the nitrogen added though, it was completely transformed. Very strong (which is what we had intended) and it was much more fragrant than hot brewed coffee, slightly sweeter too. It was VERY drinkable, helped by the creamyness. To be completely honest I was very surprised by how much I liked it after trying the same brew without the nitrogen.

Time will tell how it goes down on Saturday when my friend trials it on the unsuspecting public. It may be a step too far for sleepy Suffolk!

Your right about the caffeine at low temps, but the amount of coffee used for cold brew is 2-2.5 times what you would use for a hot brew and it is left to steep for MUCH longer too. Our batch was left for 24hrs.

In theory the caffeine levels may still be lower for cold brew though as the grind size is usually much courser, so it is then beyond me how we would check it out. One thing I do know for sure is the brew we made had a very good hit to it!

There may still be some heath benefits though, as you dont drink it with cream of sugar (generally speaking), although it might actually be quite nice(?).

I tried Nitro coffee for the first time yesterday. To be honest I was a little underwhelmed by it. Perhaps it wasn't made quite right but it seemed to be quite sour, and the smooth mouthfeel I'd expected was minimal. Maybe I'll hunt down another place that sells it just to give it a second chance.

f00b4r wrote:I don't drink tea or coffee but Newcastle Brewing do a fantastic Saison with cold pressed coffee from a local company added in, not something I would have necessarily thought before trying it.

Coffee in a saison? I can't think of anything less suited (unless they do a mackerel saison). Can you really taste it and does it taste in any way like a saison?

f00b4r wrote:I don't drink tea or coffee but Newcastle Brewing do a fantastic Saison with cold pressed coffee from a local company added in, not something I would have necessarily thought before trying it.

Coffee in a saison? I can't think of anything less suited (unless they do a mackerel saison). Can you really taste it and does it taste in any way like a saison?

I have to admit that I wasn't expecting much until I tried it but it's a great beer. It's been a while since I had it but if memory serves right it is definitely Saison like, if not at the funniest end of the spectrum, and you can definitely taste the coffee, although there is no astringency as it is cold pressed.